Third State Books Inc.

Amplify! My Fight for Asian America offers a meaningful look at the real stories behind the headlines, providing Asian Americans and allies of all backgrounds a vital resource to broaden their perspective on anti-Asian hate and contribute to positive social transformation.February 24, 2020, started out like any other day for journalist and television anchor Dion Lim of San Francisco’s ABC News. Planning her pitches for the morning’s editorial meeting, she checked her Instagram account and saw a message from someone she didn’t recognize. Attached was a horrifying video in which men were beating and yelling racist slurs at an elderly Asian man who had been collecting cans in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco. Lim felt compelled to investigate the story, help the man who “looked freakishly like my dad,” and bring the perpetrators to justice. Thus began Lim’s four-years-and-counting quest to bring attention to the appalling rise of anti-Asian hate and violence in America. Amplify! My Fight for Asian America brings readers on an eye-opening journey alongside Lim, who has unwittingly become a national hero for her relentless fight for Asian American visibility. Through deeply personal anecdotes about her own life as a Chinese American, exclusive interviews with survivors, activists, and historians, and incisive historical context, she provides the very first book to tackle one of the biggest political and social controversies of this century from the perspective of the AAPI community. 

"I have watched every Dumbfoundead battle so many times that I have most of the insults memorized."—Jay Caspian Kang, The New Yorker “Jonnie ‘Dumbfoundead’ Park's story is the definition of winning life on hard mode: Start as an undocumented Korean immigrant from Argentina and become a once-in-a-generation battle rapper and artist in Los Angeles.”—Ronny Chieng, ComedianSPIT is the raw and electrifying memoir of Jonnie Park—better known by his rap moniker, Dumbfoundead—whose rise from an unruly childhood in Los Angeles’s iconic Koreatown to international rap stardom is as unlikely as it is exhilarating. Born in Argentina to Korean parents and smuggled by a coyote across the US-Mexico border at age three, Park grew up in L.A. amid cultural dislocation, his father’s violent alcoholism, and the turbulent protests and riots of the early 1990s. Searching for belonging, he found salvation in the highly competitive underground world of battle rap, where he was among the only successful Asian American battle rappers. He honed his freestyle superpowers at Project Blowed, the legendary South Central L.A. open-mic venue, amid a motley crew of characters who took him in as one of their own. Told through the lens of his life’s greatest battles—his father’s rage, racist stereotypes, the “model minority” myth, the pressures of fame, and his own addictions—Park tells his story with his trademark humor, lyrical style, and unflinching honesty. Like Eminem’s 8 Mile, SPIT charts the author’s course from high-school dropout to cultural pioneer, one verse at a time. Featuring a dozen vivid graphic novel–style illustrations that bring his journey to life, SPIT visualizes the inner demons and outer adversaries Park faced along the way. From open-mics in South Central to freestyle cyphers in Seoul to music festivals across the globe, Park’s memoir is a testament to creativity, grit, and the power of speaking your truth—even when the world isn’t ready to hear it. More than just a chronicle of an artist’s path to success, SPIT is a groundbreaking story of identity, resilience, and reinvention. It is also the story of an American outsider who turned life’s challenges into his stage and battled his way to triumph.

“Sacramento DA Thien Ho is a tenacious prosecutor who played a crucial role in putting the Golden State Killer in prison for life. The People vs. the Golden State Killer is a riveting behind-the-scenes account about the investigation, capture, and prosecution of Joseph DeAngelo.”—Paul Holes, bestselling author of UnmaskedIn The People vs. the Golden State Killer, Thien Ho, the current District Attorney of Sacramento, recounts his harrowing and exhilarating experience as the lead prosecutor responsible for capturing and prosecuting Joseph DeAngelo. Referred to at various times by law enforcement and the media as the Visalia Ransacker, the East Bay Rapist, the Original Nightstalker, and finally the Golden State Killer, DeAngelo, a former policeman, is widely considered “one of the most notorious serial predators in American history.”Ho’s book is the first official account of how the Golden State Killer was apprehended and put behind bars for life. Ho led an elite team of law enforcement from six California prosecutor''s offices, using a newly developed tool known as “investigative genetic genealogy” to connect DeAngelo to multiple cold cases stretching back nearly a half century. Many previous narratives about DeAngelo, including two bestselling books and multiple documentaries, focused largely on the killer and his heinous crimes. This book not only provides hundreds of facts and details never revealed to the public about the Golden State Killer’s crimes, it also presents the real-life story of the people who worked tirelessly to bring DeAngelo to justice. It also offers the unprecedented authorized perspective of three survivors of DeAngelo''s crimes who courageously turned their pain into empowerment and activism. A portion of the book’s proceeds will be donated both by the author and Third State Books to Phyllis’s Garden, a nonprofit advocating for victims’ rights begun in honor of a GSK survivor. The People vs. the Golden State Killer also recounts Ho’s fascinating personal journey, from escaping communist Vietnam with his family as a child to working his way up from an internship to an elite homicide division and eventually becoming one of only ten Asian American district attorneys out of 2,400 nationwide. 

"A highly engaging journey of connection and transformation and an innovative read for this present age." —Rita Williams-Garcia, Newbery Honor author of One Crazy SummerWelcome to The Vale, a world that grows by the power of imaginationA magical new phenomenon from the New York Times bestselling author and executive producer of the Loveboat, Taipei series (adapted to the Netflix film Love in Taipei).Thirteen-year-old Bran Joseph Lee has spent half his life building the Vale, an immersive, AI-generated, virtual-reality environment using technology created by his inventor parents. It''s a lush fantasy world complete with a Blue Forest, a Castle, and adventures with his mushroom-obsessed Elf named Gnomly—a much better place to spend his days compared to his real life, where his parents have suffered through the failed launches of one invention after another. Bran wants nothing more than to see his Elves come fully to life, a hope that seems on the brink of reality when he enters the Vale in a multi-million-dollar competition to fund its further development. But instead, things in the Vale begin to go wrong: The sunlight is fading. A beautiful girl appears from nowhere. A wizard is stealing from the Vale’s inhabitants. And the strangest part of all is that none of this is the young inventor’s doing. Can Bran and Gnomly uncover the truth of what is happening before both their worlds are destroyed?Look out for The Vale—Origins, the short film prequel to The Vale starring three-time Tony Award winner Lea Salonga, coming to film festivals and screenings near you!"Exposes both the wonder of AI and its pitfalls, and the elastic boundary between. Storytelling at its best!" —Kathi Appelt, National Book Award Finalist and Newbery Honor author of The Underneath

"Historic contributions and stories of resilience are shared in this dynamic graphic novel. An informative and engaging read!"—Maia and Alex Shibutani, two-time Olympic medalists and authors of Amazing: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Who Inspire Us AllAsian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history is American history. The unique experiences, challenges, and contributions of AANHPIs are an integral part of our country’s development, but they are rarely taught in American schools.Even today, over 70% of Americans have little knowledge about AANHPI history or confuse it with Asian history. Yet, according to The Asian American Foundation, better education about AANHPI history in K–12 schools is one of the best ways to combat racism. Fighting to Belong! Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander History, 1900–1970, written by bestselling writer Amy Chu (Wonder Woman, Deadpool, Ant-Man, Iron Man), Alexander Chang, and The Asian American Education Project and illustrated by Louie Chin (Bodega Cat), shares this important and dynamic part of the American experience in an accessible and engaging graphic novel format. In this book, the second volume of a three-book series, our middle school protagonists Padmini, Sammy, Joe, and Tiana and their guide, Kenji, and his grandfather, Frankie, embark on an amazing journey through time to witness key events in AANHPI history, from the Philippine-American War to the incarceration of some 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.Fighting to Belong! Volume II helps new audiences young and old, AANHPI and non-AANHPI, understand how these stories are truly interwoven within the fabric of America.

“Choi''s true-crime biography adds much-needed detail and perspective to Noguchi''s unusual and compelling story.” —BooklistL.A. Coroner is a gripping true crime biography of Dr. Thomas Noguchi, the controversial “Coroner to the Stars,” who performed the autopsies of Marilyn Monroe, Robert F. Kennedy, Natalie Wood, and hundreds of other notable personalities. Choi, an award-winning historian and professor, deftly blends Los Angeles history, death investigation and forensic science, and Asian American history in a feat of exquisite storytelling.L.A. Coroner is the first-ever biography of Dr. Thomas Noguchi, the Chief Medical Examiner–Coroner of Los Angeles County from 1967 to 1982. Throughout his illustrious career, Dr. Noguchi conducted the official autopsies of some of the most high-profile figures of his time. His elaborate press conferences, which often generated more controversy than they did answers, catapulted him into the public eye.Noguchi was also the inspiration for the popular 1970s–80s television drama Quincy, M.E., starring Jack Klugman. Featuring never-before-published details about Noguchi’s most controversial cases, L.A. Coroner is a meticulously researched biography of a complex man, set against the backdrop of the social and racial politics of the 1960s and 1970s and Hollywood celebrity culture.